Is it possible to have meaningful discussion about the gospel on a weekly basis?

Discussions about holding onto your faith and beliefs, whether by staying LDS or by exploring and participating in other churches or faiths. The belief in any higher power (including God, Christ, Buddha, or Jedi) is true in this forum. Be kind to others.
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Ben Davis
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Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:46 am

Is it possible to have meaningful discussion about the gospel on a weekly basis?

Post by Ben Davis » Sun Feb 18, 2018 7:37 pm

At first I was really excited about the church positioning EQ lessons as discussions, but I find myself super bored as the gospel is a topic we must all conform to and anything but that isn’t culturally acceptable...the other half of this is that I get most excited talking about new ideas, creating things, grey areas, solving problems, or exploring differing ideas about subjects central to the human experience. IMO the answers are all already there and that’s fine, as they are essentially meant to be/need to be.

How do you all keep it interesting? I’d honestly love to inspire some critical thinking or maybe critical thinking isn’t the right answer either (no exmo). I’m just bored and do t want to be. Maybe I need to adjust my expectations for that 45min slot of my week.

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oliver_denom
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Re: Is it possible to have meaningful discussion about the gospel on a weekly basis?

Post by oliver_denom » Sun Feb 18, 2018 8:23 pm

The quality of discussion will depend on who you have in the room. If you have the right people, then anything is possible.

From my experience, simply discussing topics from a different perspective is enough to make things interesting. I like "what if" questions, or creating an alternate reading of a scripture story that's been run into the ground. People have been commenting on the bible for 2,000 years. I'm sure there's an endless well of possible topics if you're creative.
“You want to know something? We are still in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages--they haven't ended yet.” - Vonnegut

L'enfer, c'est les autres - JP

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MoPag
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Re: Is it possible to have meaningful discussion about the gospel on a weekly basis?

Post by MoPag » Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:17 pm

We actually have really good discussions in RS. In fact I'm really happy with how this new system works. I'm in the RS presidency, so I have a lot of control over what my sisters hear. In fact 2 of my regular teachers like to call in sick so I usually end up leading a last minute discussion. We usually talk about feelings and what in the talk stood out most to us. I try to validate everyone's feelings. That really encourages other people to share. Oliver_denom is right. It really depends on who is in the room with you too.
...walked eye-deep in hell
believing in old men’s lies...--Ezra Pound

Ben Davis
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Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:46 am

Re: Is it possible to have meaningful discussion about the gospel on a weekly basis?

Post by Ben Davis » Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:52 pm

These are great insights. I’ve been thinking about this topic and both of your comments the past several weeks and think I’m going to try to gracefully push towards nuance and explorative thinking In these discussions by using some of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies. Not all will Work but some will help reframe and lift the level of discussion.

Here’s more info if you want to check it out:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies

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